At the World's End
by LR Earl
Summary: Draco finds hope in a world with no future. One Shot.


**Disclaimer: **In its use of intellectual property and characters belonging to JK Rowling, Warner Bros, Bloomsbury Publishing, et cetera, this work is intended to be transformative commentary on the original. No profit is being made from this work.

**Warnings**: Main character death

**Author's** **Note**: My submission for the Dramione Remix Round 5 Mini Fest. All entries had to be under 1,000 words. AU - Voldemort wins. Takes place in the year 2006. Thank you so much to Omignome for being such an awesome beta! My original couple was Theo and Kee from _Children of Men._

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><p>His father would've chuckled sarcastically and cursed them all had he still been alive. Maybe then, the late Lucius Malfoy would've left this God-forsaken Isle when others had sense enough to.<p>

The Malfoys had cast their lot unwisely.

Draco stayed, even after his parents had succumbed to the Dragon Pox outbreak in 2000. The epidemic had wiped out a third of the UK's population.

In the beginning, it had sounded so promising.

Create a new world and Purebloods claimed the upper echelon for their own. Mudbloods and Muggles were sold into slavery or killed for sport.

Little did they know, they had starved out their species.

And while they celebrated the Dark Lord's ascension to power and toasted every inter-_bloody_-related Pureblood marriage, they obliterated the probability of bringing new blood, new _magical_ blood into the world.

Five years after the Dark's victory over the Light, they began to notice the lack of new births at St. Mungo's. Soon, it was city-wide; within a year, countrywide. Not a single baby had been born. Not even a Squib.

It was the reason his wife, Pansy, had left him.

Now at age twenty-five, Draco held a steady job within the ranks of Voldemort's Ministry. He still looked out for his own interests though.

His former Head of House would've been proud.

Against the Dread Lord's New World Order, Draco ran an illicit operation smuggling Muggle-borns and fed-up half-bloods out of Wizarding Britain.

All for a nominal fee, of course.

Draco never knew if they ever made it or what awaited them should them arrive at the other shore. He only knew that it was better than staying to rot in the Dark Lord's deprived utopia.

He often ran into Hogwarts' alums, attempting to appeal to him based on their prior history.

So, Draco wasn't surprised to find a house-elf popping into his study, whimpering frightfully about someone in the kitchens late one evening.

He found a ragged witch, hair wild and untamed, dressed in brown rags. She wore no shoes and muddy feet dirtied the tile. She stuffed bread in her mouth like it was a Christmas feast.

"Malfoy," the witch greeted around a mouthful of food.

Leaning against the door frame, Draco's shoulders sagged in disbelief. "Granger. Color me surprised," he drawled.

Hermione had stopped inhaling his food long enough to swallow. "You're not going to turn me in, are you?"

"You wouldn't have showed here if you knew I was."

"You'll help me then? They say you can smuggle people out of the country." She was direct.

He smirked. "For a fee. Did 'they' tell you that? Risking my neck doesn't come cheap."

"Slytherin," she huffed, slowly eating once more.

"Why, thank you." He snatched the loaf of bread from her. "And food isn't free either."

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><p>Draco didn't inquire on how she acquired the fee. He hadn't heard much about Granger over the years. She didn't talk about where she'd been - which suited Draco just fine.<p>

They set out from Wiltshire immediately.

But, she moved slowly and they stopped often because of her exhaustion. After Draco found her puking her guts out, again, he sneered that he should have charged her double.

"For shit's sake, when were you going to tell me you were up the duff, Granger?"

"I wasn't completely sure at the time!" she argued from the ground.

"Honestly?!" He swore loudly. "Do you know what this means?!" he growled. Raking a hand through his hair, he muttered to himself.

She wrapped frail arms about herself, her cloak barely concealing what he now knew to be a growing and thriving pregnancy.

"Of course, I know what this means! Why do you think I came to you?"

Picking up their satchel, Draco continued their trek south. "So, who's the father?" he asked, still in a daze.

A pregnancy.

A magical pregnancy. Draco couldn't believe it. For the first time in years, hope shone where there had been darkness before.

She wouldn't answer and he stopped guessing after she failed to respond to his fifth attempt.

"Please don't tell me it's St. Potter's." She slapped him after that.

Of course, it couldn't have been; the boy-who-lived had been dead for some years now. But Draco swallowed the smart retort when he noticed tears lining her eyes.

They carried on in silence after that.

But such a trek required time; something they did not have. The more time passed, the more evident it became that Granger was with child.

Taking a dangerous, but shorter route to the shore led them through a gang of snatchers and into a small battle.

They emerged almost unscathed. Moving quickly, Draco undocked the small vessel that he used for such purposes.

"Malfoy!" Granger hissed, clutching the blanket tight over her growing middle as she settled into the boat.

"Just a bit longer, Granger," Draco grimaced, trying to mask the pain, but she was smarter than that.

"You're injured." A quiet whisper.

"Suppose it's a one-way trip for me," Draco retorted, but the joke fell flat.

Silence, then, "Give me your wand, I can -"

"You can't do anything," the blond hissed, then muttered, "As round as you are, I'm the one who gets hit by the slicing curse."

But Granger did not take the bait and pushed his bravery into the open. "You didn't have to step in front of me." She protectively clutched her belly.

He glared at her heatedly. How dare she? Like he would let the one witch bright enough to solve this epidemic _and_ pregnant with the first magical child in three years just die. If he had enough energy, he would curse her.

Not literally, of course.

Merlin. Dying was making him hallucinate.

The boat rocked as she neared him. Granger's mouth moved feverishly now, but he couldn't make out the words.

"Just wait," Draco promised softly, his lips barely moving. A cool hand grazed her brow.

A brighter world was coming.

"Just … wait," he said to himself.

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><p><em>AN: As I was writing this, I could just see this expanding into a full piece. Maybe from Draco's perspective or maybe both his and Hermione's. I'm not sure, I feel this could go in so many different ways - what do you think? Anyways I hope you enjoyed - was certainly difficult to stay under 1,000 words ;-)_


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